Understanding the impact of Alaska’s proposed $15 minimum wage – EPI
“…translating family expenses into a single estimate of a ‘living wage’ requires making judgments about the type of household the living wage should cover. A working adult living alone does not need to earn as much as a working caregiver with two young children to provide for.
“A conservative choice for a living wage would be one that covers the basic expenses of only single, childless adults who work full time and year-round. To be even more conservative, we can also assume that some of these workers’ expenses will be covered by income other than wages—such as employer-provided health insurance or government-provided social insurance or means-tested benefits (e.g., housing or food assistance). A reasonable assumption would be that the workers’ wages only need to cover 81% of their expenses, and that the remaining 19% will be covered by non-wage income and social insurance and means-tested transfers, based on Congressional Budget Office data on income sources for households at different levels of household income (Gould, Mokhiber, and deCourcy 2024).
“Even in this scenario, Alaska’s current minimum wage ($11.73 an hour) is not enough. In Juneau, the most expensive borough listed, a conservative living wage would be $19.65 an hour today. Meanwhile, in Anchorage, the living wage would be $18.58. Thus, increasing the state minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2027 will not fully achieve a living wage for all Alaskans, but it would be an important step toward greater economic security for working families.”